by Lana Dash
DEAR WEDDING PLANNER
SINCERELY YOURS SERIES
LANA DASH
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Epilogue
Also By Lana Dash
About the Author
DEAR WEDDING PLANNER is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
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Copyright © 2021 by LANA DASH
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ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval systems, without express written permission from the author/publisher, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
1
MILES
I've barely been home forty-eight hours, and my sister has already volunteered me to help her with planning her wedding.
“Get up,” Mackenzie says before tossing a pillow on my sleeping head.
I'd throw it back at her face if I weren't so tired.
“What do you want?” I grumble into my pillow.
“You’re coming with me to meet with a potential wedding planner.”
“No, I’m not.”
"You have to, my maid of honor lives three states away, and Mom is in London right now on her UK book tour.”
I grab the pillow she tossed at me and put it over my head. The ten-hour jet lag that I’m currently experiencing makes getting out of bed impossible at the moment. And there is nothing that she can say that will persuade me otherwise.
“Miles,” Mackenzie whines, using the same voice she did when we were kids when she wasn’t getting her way. “You have to come. I need someone to go with me.”
“Can’t you ask one of your many friends to help you? I don’t know anything about planning a wedding,” I say under the pillow.
The bed dip next to me as Mackenzie sits down. I hear her say something quietly, but I can’t hear it because the pillow is muffling the sound.
“What?” I peek my head out.
“I said that they all told me that they were too busy.” Her voice doesn’t have the same air of importance that it usually does. She actually sounds like she’s upset.
“They all bailed?”
“All of them.” She looks down at her hands. “I thought that planning the best day of my life would be this amazing experience, but I can’t even get one of my friends to come with me.”
Mackenzie Jameson is never one to show her vulnerable side. I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve seen her cry—and one of those times didn’t include when she broke her arm when we were ten. As much as I would have given every dollar in my bank account to sleep a few more hours, I knew what I had to do.
“All right,” I say, pushing up from the bed. “Let’s go.”
“Really? You’ll come with me?”
“Yes, but only because you are going to buy me pancakes afterward."
“I will buy you all the pancakes you want.” Mackenzie chuckles, and I’m happy to see her smile return.
I’ve been gone for the last three years, traveling the world as a freelance photographer. It’s a job I once loved, but it kept me away from my friends and family for too long. When I came back, I half expected everything to be the same as when I left. I wanted that comfort of familiarity, but the world keeps turning when you are gone. People keep living their lives, even when you aren’t there to be a part of it all. If going with my twin sister to meet with a potential wedding planner is what she wants me to do, I can do that for her. I have a lot of time to make up for since I was gone.
* * *
VERONICA
When I started I Do—For You, my wedding planning business, I was in love with the idea of love. I thought that helping people plan the best day of their life would be so rewarding. But after five years of dealing bridezillas, medaling family members who think they know best, and unreliable vendors, the shine of planning a wedding has lost its luster.
At the last wedding I worked, the bride and groom ended up stiffing me eight thousand dollars because they ran out of money and thought that only paying the vendors was important. When I confronted the bride about the bad check she wrote me the day of the wedding, she was unapologetic, telling me that this was her big day and I should have given my time for free. She and her family then proceeded to blast me on social media about how I was being unprofessional. After that, brides started canceling on me left and right. With no weddings to work, I burned through the money I’d managed to save just to keep the bill collectors at bay. It’s gotten so bad that I flinch whenever I hear the phone ring. If I don’t find another high-paying client real soon, I’m going to have to let go of Tabitha, the best assistant I’ve ever had.
"You said to remind you when it was quarter after two," Tabitha says, popping her head in my office.
I’m sitting at my desk, working on trying to find the money to keep the lights on.
“Remind me again who I’m meeting?” I ask, not looking up from the paperwork in front of me.
“It’s for the Jameson/Franklin wedding.”
“I hope the bride’s name isn’t Mackenzie.” I chuckle humorlessly, thinking about my high school nemesis, Mackenzie Jameson, who made my life miserable. I know that I've had a string of bad luck, but there is no way the universe hates me that much.
“It is,” Tabitha confirms.
My head snaps up to look at her. “Please tell me you are kidding.”
The bell above my shop door rings out. Tabitha glances over her shoulder and waves at whoever has just walked in.
"I'll be with you in just one moment," she says before turning back to me. "No, I’m not kidding. And she just walked in.”
The memories of Mackenzie and her crew using me as their punching bag for their verbal assaults that I thought I’d long since suppressed come flooding back to me.
“I can’t meet with her,” I hiss.
Tabitha gives a reassuring smile over her shoulder before stepping into my office, and the smile instantly drops from her face.
“What do you mean you can’t meet with her? We’ve had it on the books for two weeks now. I can’t just send her out of here. She is the big fish that we’ve been looking for to keep this place going. We don’t have a lot of options. I don’t see too many brides banging on our door to work with you.”
“Okay, first,” I point at her. “Ouch. You know that wasn’t my fault. Second, that she-devil out there is the reason I hide cookies in my desk and stress eat.”
“I’m going to tell you what my mom would tell me in this situation,” she says using the stern voice she saves for when she is talking to anxious grooms and jittery brides. “What’s happened in the past is over. You’ve moved on and become a successful grown woman.”
“Well—” I cut in to argue the successful part.
“I’m not finished.”
“Sorry.”
“You are going to pull up your big girl pants,” she says, picking up my leather portfolio and holds it out to me. “And you are going to go out there a
nd charm the pants off her. If you show her that you aren’t bothered, then she doesn’t win.”
I take the portfolio and stare at Tabitha. "When did you get so wise?"
“When my amazing boss lost her damn mind and nearly turned away a paying bride because of a high school grudge.”
“You’re right. I can do this.”
“Good,” Tabitha waves me towards the door. “Be cool. And don’t get lost in the dreamy eyes of her groom.”
Rule number one of wedding planning—never fall for the groom. But that doesn’t mean we can’t appreciate a stunning specimen when we see one.
“He’s cute?”
She scoffs. “That’s putting it mildly.”
“Okay,” I roll my neck like I’m about to enter a boxing ring. “Let’s do this.”
Tabitha smacks my ass as I walk by her out the door.
“Really?”
She shrugs and smiles at me.
2
MILES
“Thank you both for waiting.”
I hear her before I see her, but I’d recognize that voice anywhere. I turn and see Veronica Gardner walking towards Mackenzie and me with the same dazzling smile that captured my heart when I was fourteen years old.
“It’s not a problem,” Mackenzie says, taking Veronica’s hand and shaking it.
When Veronica turns and extends her hand to me, I can't help but feel disappointed when I don't see recognition in her eyes. I know I don't look like I did back in high school. I'm about a foot taller and have spent many hours at the gym lifting weights, so I no longer look like a thin string bean, as Mackenzie so kindly pointed out to me.
“Hi,” is all I manage to get out when I shake her hand.
To say that I've only thought about Veronica a few times in the years since we graduated would be a massive understatement. She’s the one that I compare all other women that have walked into my life against.
“Before we sit down, can we get either of you something to drink? Espresso? Bottled water?”
I shake my head no.
“We’re fine,” Mackenzie says.
“Then why don’t we get started.” Veronica gestures to the loveseats in the corner.
My eyes drink in her curvy form as we follow her over. She has more of an hourglass figure than when I last saw her but judging by how all the blood in my body seems to be relocating to my cock, I appreciate it even more.
I find it hard to concentrate on what the two of them are talking about. My mind can only focus on Veronica—checking her left hand for a wedding ring, admiring the shape of her legs in heels, and listening to the melodic tone of her laugh.
“I’m sure we can find something for both you and your fiancé," she says, gesturing to me.
“I’m not her fiancé,” I blurt out before Mackenzie can correct her.
Veronica’s cheeks flush when she glances from me to Mackenzie and back again.
“I’m sorry,” she says. “I just assumed.”
“That’s my brother.”
“You’re brother?” Veronica’s gaze swings over to me, her brow furrowing.
So, she does remember me.
She studies me for a moment, but I can see it the moment recognition hits. The crease between her brows smooths out, and she gives me a tiny half-smile. It’s the same one she’d give me when we were lab partners senior year, and she'd catch me sneaking glances her way. It was my favorite hour of the day, getting to sit next to her.
“Miles,” she shakes her head. Her eyes sweep over me. “I didn’t recognize you.”
“It’s been almost ten years,” I say.
Mackenzie clears her throat, breaking this tiny moment between us. If I had that pillow my sister threw at my head this morning, I’d be tempted to smother her with it right now.
“I think that we’ve gone over everything we need to discuss," she says, standing up. "Send over the contract, and I will get the retainer check over to you."
Veronica and I both stand too. I’m reluctant to follow my sister out to the car, but she’s my ride.
“I should probably go,” I point to the door. “It was really nice seeing you again, Veronica.”
“You too, Miles.”
The sound of my name on her lips does more to my body than the hands of any of my exes.
Mackenzie honks the horn, breaking me out of my spell.
"I'll see you around," I say and give her a half-wave. I'm not looking where I'm walking and nearly knock over the bride and groom mannequins standing near the door.
Veronica tries to hold back her chuckle. “Yeah, okay. Bye.”
It pains me to leave her and not say to her everything I’ve compiled in my head if I ever had this moment again. Life doesn’t often give you a second chance with the one person for you feel got away. I was a dumb kid back then, thinking I had all the time in the world to tell Veronica how I felt, but when I finally got the guts to tell her, I found out that she had left early for college. I missed my opportunity. I won’t let that happen again.
* * *
VERONICA
Miles Jameson grew up. I can still remember the cute boy who was my lab partner senior year. I remember thinking that he might have liked me back then, but nothing ever came of it. He never made a move, so I figured it was all in my head.
“So, what is the story there?” Tabitha asks when the door closes behind Miles.
“I told you, Mac—”
“No.” She holds up her hand to stop me. “I’m talking about the sex eyes that guy was giving you.”
“What?” I ask my voice squeaking, both in surprise and hopefulness.
“Don’t tell me you didn’t notice how he couldn’t keep his eyes off you.”
“That’s because I was doing most of the talking about what our services provide.”
“Oh, I’m sure that was it.” Tabitha laughs. “I’ve seen grooms zone out when talk about the wedding starts going down. And you expect me to think that a brother of the groom is interested in what we have to say. He was interested in what is under your sweater.”
I tug closed the cardigan sweater I’m wearing. “I don’t know what you saw, but you’re wrong.”
“Famous last words.” Tabitha smiles. “But I think that we will be planning your wedding next.”
"Let's just focus on the actual wedding we have to plan,” I tell her. “I’m going to need to get started on putting together a list of possible vendors based on the parameters Mackenzie has laid out.”
I hand her the notes I took during the meeting.
Mackenzie acted like she didn’t remember any of our history together. I guess when you are the bully, it’s a lot easier to forget what happened. But Tabitha was right. I’m a professional woman. I’m not about to let something that happened to me in the past dictate my success in my present.
“I’m going to put together the contract and get that sent over to her so that we can get started as soon as possible. The date she chose for the wedding is only a year away, and we have a lot to do."
“Do you think that this job will be enough to save us?” Tabitha asks.
“Based on the budget she was discussing, I hope so.”
3
MILES
I barely have the car door shut before Mackenzie lays into me.
“I can’t believe you still have a thing for Veronica Gardner,” she snaps.
I flinch inwardly. I didn’t know that she knew about how I felt her then or now.
“I don’t know what you are talking about,” I try to lie.
“You are a terrible liar, Miles. Even if you weren’t my brother and I didn’t know practically everything you were thinking, the lovesick for her is all over your face.”
“It’s not that bad.”
“Do I need to buy you a mirror?”
“I can’t help it.” I run my hands over my face. “I can’t turn off what I feel for her.”
“No, but you can try not to look like a puppy that’s so excited he
’s going to piddle himself whenever she looks at you.”
“Shut up.”
“I’m trying to help you. Do you think that it's a coincidence that out of all the wedding planners in the city, we just happened to walk into her shop?"
“I thought that you chose her in some sort of twisted way of apologizing to her for being such a jerk to her when we were younger.”
Mackenzie pretends her attention is focused on the road and doesn’t say anything for a full minute.
I didn't know about her behavior until a few years after we graduated. If I knew back when it was happening, I would have stopped Mackenzie. A part of me wonders if the real reason that she didn't like Veronica was that she knew how I felt about her.
We only had each other since our parents were absent for most of our childhoods. Mackenzie used to say that the only reason they had kids was that society told them they should. They were so wrapped up in their own lives that we were simply an afterthought to them. When my attention turned to Veronica, and Mackenzie wasn’t the most important person in my world anymore, that was a new experience for her.
“So, what if I did?” she finally asks.
“Well, I think you’re going to need to do more than just hiring her to make up for what you did. You’re going to have to apologize. You owe her that much.”
“I’ll think about it.”
I don’t push it. That was as concrete an answer I'd get from my stubborn sister. The fact that she even acknowledged out loud how she used to act the way she did to Veronica is a new side of her.
Over the following week. I can't get Veronica off my mind. On more than one occasion, I was tempted to show up at her shop for a chance to talk to her again, but Mackenzie's voice kept playing in my head and stopped me. I needed to find a way to spend time with her that wasn’t a date. I needed to test the waters to make sure that I didn’t scare her off with my initial feelings of wanting to act quickly, so I didn’t miss my chance again.
